The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
When you look around at almost anything that has been designed or built, chances are an engineer was involved in the process. A career that combines creative thinking with exceptional technical skills, engineering is a field that is always in high demand within various industries. Should you think an engineering career may be right for you, here are four types of engineers and what you need to consider when making your career decision.
Industrial Engineer
In this engineering career, your primary focus will be on how to improve efficiency within a manufacturing environment. To do so, you will evaluate production systems and process flows, examine production schedules, and work closely with management staff and production employees to determine how various systems and operations can be improved. By creating greater efficiency, you will also help a company to lower its production costs.
Biomedical Engineer
If you have an interest in medicine but don’t want to spend years attending medical school, you can put your talents to excellent use as a biomedical engineer. In this job, you would design and develop various types of equipment for the healthcare industry. These can include such things as artificial organs such as hearts, medical devices such as insulin pumps or pacemakers, and much more. In addition, you will also need excellent communication and interpersonal skills, since you will also train medical staff on how to use equipment and present your findings at seminars and workshops.
A geotechnical engineer works to protect and improve various systems within the ground. This includes structures and foundations that they will design to withstand certain pressures. By focusing on specific areas such as soil quality and geological conditions, your job will be to understand how soil and rocks behave in order to make plans for their use. Often involved in large-scale projects, you may find yourself overseeing or working on construction projects and performing surveys to ensure the soil quality is suitable for the work that needs to be done.
Civil Engineer
Finally, if you think you can do a great job at designing roads, bridges, or even various types of buildings and airports, you may want to be a civil engineer. Along with preparing cost estimates for projects and selecting the most suitable building materials, you will also ensure projects are done in full compliance with various regulations.
Since these jobs usually require at least a Bachelor’s degree and skills in math and science, make sure your abilities match the engineering career in which you are most interested. If they do, move forward with your career plans.
